County Lines
by ithinkyourewonderful
Summary: With help from Celia, Kate and Caroline are reunited - but what happens after after a happy ending?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Let's be honest... Not mine. Sally Wainwright & the Beebs.

Spoilers: Episode 6

On-going... As excited as I was by the reunion, I couldn't help but wonder what if Kate even had a choice. I mean, if your ex's mother shows up at your place, good manners all but dictate you return, don't they?

Caroline couldn't breathe through her sobs. She couldn't stop reaching out in front of her to make sure Kate was real, she was there, willing to forgive her, willing to stay, willing to put up with the unholy mess that was her life right now.

And Kate let her, pulled her into an embrace and just let her cry it out. All of it. John, and Judith, and William, and her mother - all of her frustrations and fears and rage. All of it that had been pent up in her body for the last few weeks that hadn't found a way out but managed to live inside her, coiling around her heart and her stomach and her lungs. It was only now, as she felt it all empty out of her that she realized it was as if she was holding her breath this entire time and was just now starting to remember how it felt to take in lungfuls of air.

Caroline could make out her mother's retreating figure, tired and defeated, through her tears. Tomorrow she would thank her, and apologize, and take her to M&S, but she couldn't speak right now, couldn't move. It was as if Kate's warmth reminded her how tired, how absolutely exhausted she was. She felt Kate take a step in, and close the door. She knew she should let go, wipe up her tears, put her face back together and they should sit and talk about this, and what this means, and how they're going to proceed. They should proceed like adults, like the grown-ups that they were, not the teenagers they governed, but she didn't feel very much like an adult right now.

"Caroline," Kate murmured in her ear, stroking her hair, "Do you want to sit down?" Caroline nodded, but didn't let go. "Do you want to let me go?" Kate murmured again. Caroline could feel the smile of the other woman's lips against her ear as she shook her head no. "Ok, then... We'll take it slow." Kate said as she slowly guided the other woman backwards through the hall towards the closest room, her office. She struggled with the door, but managed to reach the doorknob by pressing against Caroline. She felt the electric spark as they connected and her stomach dropped, as if on a roller coaster. This was always the problem Kate had with Caroline. She could be strong if she wanted to - determined to stand her ground and stand up for herself, then the blonde would look at her, or walk past in her heels, or touch her and suddenly Kate would find her head spinning and her stomach sinking and her heart tearing in two. "You felt that too?" Caroline whispered as she finally unwrapped her arms from Kate and pulled her to the small couch. "Yes." Kate managed to hiss out as she sat down beside Caroline. "We have a lot to talk about, Caroline." Kate began.

"I know..." The older woman took Kate's hand in hers and began examining them. "I just... You're here."

"I'm here."

"I'm sorry - I just...you're here." She reached out to brush the younger woman's face. "How? Why?"

"Celia came over..."

"To your place?"

** "She loves you, you know. Enough to visit me."

"I probably look a fright." Caroline said, breaking the silence, realizing what crying into her pillow all afternoon had done. "You look magnificent," Kate smiled, wiping away a tear track.

"Hardly, you're the beauty in this relationship." Caroline laughed, trying to wipe away the leftover mascara that hadn't been cried away yet.

"Oh, I am, am I? Just using me for my looks, are we?" Kate asked, feigning being indignant.

"Oh absolutely. It has nothing to do with your charm, or brilliance, our your kindness, or your ability to deal with my insanity." Caroline's voice dropped suddenly and she peered into Kate's brown eyes. "None at all."

"I see."

"Do you? I'm sorry -"

"Caroline, we'll talk later -"

"I'd like to say this now, so you know it. So you can hear it like I need for you to hear it." She took the other woman's face in her hand, "I'm sorry Kate. I'm sorry about everything you heard last night. And I'm sorry I didn't defend you better, or us better. And I'm sorry that you think you don't mean the world to me... Because I think you could mean the world to me... And the last time someone meant this much to me-"

"John?"

"Lord no!" Caroline laughed. "But I mean it when I say you are right here..." She took the other woman's hand in hers and placed in above her heart. "More firmly and more plainly that I thought possible. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

"I think so." Kate nodded slowly, the other woman didn't have the words to say it, but she was asking Kate for patience for her to learn the words. "Good, 'cause I think if I keep talking, I'm going to muck it up even more." The blond started laughing again, taking Kate's face in her hands, "I can't believe you're here!" She leaned in, brushing their lips together.

"I'm here." Kate repeated, smiling, surprised at Caroline's delight in her presence.

"You're here." Caroline repeated. "And you'll stay? Tonight?"

"Caroline -"

"Please?" Such a simple word, such a simple emotion spread across the other woman's face. "I just, I want to wake up tomorrow and know that this wasn't a dream, or a delusion. God knows, if I've snapped, I'd be the last person to be surprised by it."

"We'll see." Kate stood, needing some space, some air. So this was what it was like to be on the other side, to be wanted so deeply. "Come on. I bet you haven't had anything to eat."

"Eat?" Caroline asked, as if the concept was so completely foreign to her. "Well I ate lunch..." She searched her memory - "Yesterday."

"Then let's get you something to eat." Kate held out her hands to help the other woman up.

TBC...


	2. Chapter 2

They ate takeaway straight from the cartons, the four of them, sitting on the floor of the dimly lit living room. Kate sat with her back against the couch, with Caroline curled up against Kate's side and the boys across from them, chatting away, with sly smiles as their mother's eyes got heavier, and heavier and eventually closed.

"Is she asleep?" Kate whispered, feeling the steady up-and-down rhythm of Caroline's breathing.

"Yeah, I think she is." William answered, "I don't think she's got much sleep the last couple of nights." He admitted, afraid he may be giving away too much, "Although I guess you might not have either."

"You're probably right about that." Kate answered, feeling the weight of everything wash over her. It was funny, the sense of exhaustion that came with resolution. As if all of her energy had been spent on just functioning, just existing, without the other woman's presence in her life. "I suppose we should move her up," Kate began, easing the sleeping woman's head into her lap, "But she looks so peaceful..."

"You going to stay the night? William asked.

"Too much information, you poof!" Laurence groaned as he clambered upright and started grabbing the finished takeaway containers.

"Don't call your brother a poof!" Caroline mumbled from her sleep as she snuggled further against the younger woman.

"Did you need help taking her upstairs?" William asked as he got up from his spot on the floor.

"No, not quite yet." Kate answered softly, brushing the blond woman's hair with her fingers. She needed some time to think about if she was indeed going to stay, or how to proceed with the whole thing.

When Celia had shown up on her doorstep and swept her up, she didn't think past seeing Caroline, seeing if she was really as bad off and as heartbroken as Celia had said she was. And it was true - she had never seen Caroline as defeated, as drained as she was when she opened the door and stood there in her stocking feet and her tear-stained pink blouse and her quivering smile. At that point, it

was emotion, a purely emotional response that drew her in. It was emotions that made her heart swell and expand in her chest with an emotion frighteningly similar to one she refused to name, looking down at the slumbering blond in her lap. It was her mind, however, that made her stop and think about her next move. She'd followed her heart when it came to Caroline before, and each and every time she did, it ended badly.

"I can hear you thinking from here." Caroline whispered into Kate's thigh.

"I'm sorry," Kate laughed softly, "Is it keeping you up?"

"It is. It's very noisy - all those thoughts rattling around in there." Caroline's fingers began to trace patterns along Kate's outstretched legs.

"I'll try to keep them down."

"Don't." The older woman lifted herself upright and looked into Kate's warm brown eyes. "Better to get rid of them."

"Don't think I know how."

"Can I help?" Caroline asked, pursing her lips slightly "I suspect I put them there."

"Not all of them."

"But some."

"Yes," Kate agreed slowly. "Some."

"Then share some back."

"We've had a long day." Kate countered, "And we have school tomorrow."

"Ugh!" Caroline threw her head back and groaned. "School... You know, it's not often, but there is the odd time I wish I could dip out, spend the day in bed with some coffee and a paper and..." She smiled slyly towards Kate, "A beautiful woman."

"Dr. Elliott, playing truant?" Kate bypassed the complement, "Well, that's something I never thought I'd see!"

"Oh you will, but not tomorrow - not with the Trustees' Board meeting." She leaned her head closer to the other woman's until they were almost touching, breathing in and breathing out the same air. Their eyes met for a moment before Kate began looking elsewhere nervously - anywhere but Caroline's lips - flush with sleep and wine. "Kate, Kate look at me." Kate willed herself to move her eyes from Caroline's lips to her eyes, blue and ernest. She always found it amazing how expressive they could be - going from sparkling and joyful to dark and furious in a matter of seconds. Everything about Caroline was alive, expressive, she thought, how could no one see it bursting out of every word, every sound, every movement?

"Come to bed." Was all Caroline said, pleading.

"I should, I should go home." Kate stammered in response. "I haven't anything to wear tomorrow. My things..."

"Are still in my room from dinner the other night."

"I don't -" Kate couldn't get the words out, it wasn't that she didn't want to stay, she did. She wanted nothing more than to close her eyes and know that for once, the feeling of the other woman's arms around her was real. She just didn't want to wake up tomorrow and face the consequences of the night.

"We'll take it slow,"Caroline promised, smiling kindly, "I promise. It's a big bed - we don't even need to touch."

"Like hell we aren't!" Kate laughed, "If I'm finally spending the night, I want to be able to hold you."

"That will be...technically difficult as I plan on being the one holding you."

"We'll think of something."

"So you'll stay?" Caroline asked, joy spreading across her face.

"If you'll have me." She gave in, exhausted from arguing, exhausted from the day's activity.

"Oh, I'll have you," Caroline rose up from her seat, her hand outstretched towards the other woman, who took it after a moment's hesitation, "As long as you'll stay."

And so that's how they stayed, hand in hand, as Caroline performed her nightly rituals, leading the way in locking the doors, drawing the blinds and turning off the lights. With Kate's hand in hers, Caroline had felt bolder, braver - as brave as she felt marching up the path to Kate's house - but the bravery and bravado slipped away with every step up the darkened staircase until she paused in front of her door. "Caroline, you're shaking." Kate whispered. Whispering somehow felt appropriate in the dark, with the two teenage boys only a few feet away. "I don't know why, it's silly, it's just... No one's been here, I mean, like this. Other than John."

"Do you not want me to-"

"No! No! God no!" Caroline all but laughed, "I just..." She felt Kate take a step closer, almost but not quite pinning her against the door with nothing more than the promise of her body. "You just...?" Kate asked, her voice lower, richer... Caroline felt every hair, every nerve, every electron and particle in her body spark and jump and jolt awake & alive as she turned around so that she was facing the other woman, "I just want you to kiss me."

"Gladly." Kate reached her hand towards the doorknob and turned it, slowly and carefully guiding the other woman into the darkened room and shutting the door behind them softly. They stood in silence for a moment there in the dark when Kate raised her hands and cupped Caroline's face and savored the moment. "Now you're teasing me..." Caroline murmured, waiting. "Not quite - just making sure I remember this." Kate responded. "You need to stop doing that." Caroline whispered back, biting her lip.

"What?"

"Make me lose my breath - when you keep saying things like that... I don't... I don't know how to say things like that."

"You don't have to -"

"But I want to - I want you to know what it does to hear you say that, or to have you this close." Caroline reached out a hand and placed it firmly onto Kate's belly. "I feel everything drop here."

"Caroline?"

"Yes?"

"I'm trying to kiss you and you're not making it easy.." Kate laughed as she brought her lips to Caroline's. Soft and inviting, eager and willing, the kiss quickly developed into something more. Hands began roaming bodies, and shirts and sweaters were quickly shed until skin touched skin and they fought for the right to explore the other's body first. Caroline quickly gained the upper hand with her home field advantage. She had managed to lead Kate towards the bed, then guide her on it, until the younger woman found herself trapped by Caroline's straddling legs, her skirt hitched up around her waist, her pink bra coyly covering her curves (those curves) and her lipstick smeared. "Caroline?"

"Am I going too fast?" Caroline asked, raising her blonde head back from the path it had taken, bent before the brunette.

"You're beautiful Caroline, do you know that?"

"And you, Kate, are magnificent... If I haven't told you before, I'll show you now." She lowered her head back towards the other woman's body, quickly covering her darker skin with feathery kisses and nips with her teeth until there was no part left on her upper body left untouched, unadored. "Caroline, Caroline?" Kate began to squirm beneath the other woman, "What happened to slow?"

"I thought we'd already taken it slow - months slow..." She sat up once more, "Did you want me to stop?"

"No...Yes... Come here." Kate shifted slightly and patted to the bed beside her. Caroline settled in beside her, on her side so she could look at the younger woman. "Did I do something wrong? I mean, I know I'm out of practice but -" Kate stopped Caroline's ramble with a quick kiss. "No, dear, you did not do anything wrong, and your technique?" She let out a long breath, "Is pretty spot on. I just..." She paused a moment, "I just want to enjoy this. This stage first."

"What? Making out like teenagers?" Caroline laughed.

"Yes, actually." Kate smiled, turning onto her side to face the other woman. "Making out like teenagers. Does that make sense?"

"It depends... But I'm willing to try it..." Caroline slowly admitted, "So long as sleepovers are permitted."

"On a school night? We'll have to ask your mother." Kate offered up with a straight face.

* * *

Kate could hardly believe she was so exhausted at 10.17pm, but there she, curled up in Caroline's arms, in Caroline's bed, fighting to keep her eyes open. As tired as she was, she wasn't ready to sleep just yet because she knew, the sooner she slept, the sooner she would wake up and have to deal with whatever mood Caroline would be in. "Kate, you awake?" Caroline whispered in the dark, brushing the other woman's dark hair away from her neck to place a soft kiss.

"No."

"Liar." Caroline laughed.

"Well that's not very nice." Kate responded, her voice playing at being cross.

"I don't know if you've heard, I'm not very nice."

"That's not true Caroline."

"It is too, there are reams of Facebook pages proving that very fact."

"There are also Facebook pages dedicated to Sporty's superiority over Ginger Spice."

"Well that's just rubbish."

"Indeed. But that wasn't what you were going to say." Kate shifted slightly so she could get closer to the other woman."

"No, it wasn't."

"I didn't think so. So what was it?"

"I know we're going to take it slow, but, I would like to confirm, we are eventually going to have sex, right?" Caroline asked, her voice low and warm, her arm tightening her grip of the other woman. "Because I do want to..."

"Oh Caroline," Kate sighed, remembering Caroline's delicious plans for her in her office last week. "So do I."


End file.
